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The Top 10 college football recruiters of the 2026 cycle
College football programs are certainly buying the nation’s top recruits’ signatures, but relationships and proof of concept still matter on the trail.
To even be in position to close a deal financially, you have to have a product these blue-chip prospects are buying into. So while there was certainly a heavy financial investment in landing the top 2026 recruits in the country, there oftentimes was still a strong relationship behind the deal that helped allow things to fall into place.
With that, Rivals highlights the top on-field college football recruiters in the country in the 2026 class.
Mike Mickens – Notre Dame
For a second cycle in a row, the former Irish defensive back coach receives first mention after securing signatures from nearly all of his top targets before ultimately taking a job with the Baltimore Ravens to be their secondary coach.
Notre Dame’s No. 2 ranked recruiting class is highlighted by two Rivals300 five-stars in cornerback Khary Adams and safety Joey O’Brien and another Top50 recruit in cornerback Ayden Pouncey.
Mickens was also the lead recruiter for four-star cornerback Chaz Smith and coveted safety Nick Reddish.
Mickens did a fantastic job of quickly identifying the nation’s best, and building a strong rapport with them. They trusted their development with him.
New Notre Dame defensive backs coach Aaron Henry, who did a terrific job at Illinois, has big shoes to fill in South Bend.
Eric Henderson – USC
In the summer, the Trojans won a back-and-forth recruiting battle for Rivals No. 1 ranked overall prospect Luke Wafle, ultimately outbidding Ohio State to land the Hun School (NJ) five-star. But they don’t get a chance to even make a pitch without Henderson’s pedigree as a defensive line coach. Henderson helped the Rams win a Super Bowl, he mentored Aaron Donald, brought Donald out to Trojan practices, and with that, earned Wafle’s trust.
Henderson also quickly pushed for Rivals300 five-star Jaimeon Winfield and locked him up early. Winfield never wavered on his pledge to the Trojans.
Beyond those two elite talents, Henderson helped USC flip four-star Tomuhini Topui from Oregon and beat the Irish for four-star edge Simote Katoanga and four-star defensive lineman Braeden Jones who also gave a very early commitment and never came close to thinking twice.
Henderson reportedly interviewed for a position with the Dallas Cowboys. Keeping him at USC would be as big as singing this top-ranked class.
Alex Mirabal – Miami
The Rivals Industry’s No. 1 prospect in five-star offensive tackle Jackson Cantwell chose Miami over Georgia, Ohio State and Oregon. Obviously the Hurricanes put a massive NIL opportunity on the table for the Nixa (Mo.) High five-star.
But Miami also recruited Cantwell the old-fashioned way. No program was in contact more. Obviously head coach Mario Cristobal is heavily involved but Mirabal was in daily communication. And more than anything, sources at other schools involved even said that Cantwell always viewed Mirabal as the best offensive line coach in the country. The Hurricanes advancing to the National Title game only validated everything Cantwell thought when he chose Miami over the other powerhouse programs on his list.
Word around Miami is that they landed another future pro in four-star offensive tackle Joel Ervin. Mirabal, Cristobal and company locked the Fort Myers (Fla.) product up early and they also signed four-star Ben Congdon and beat Clemson for legacy recruit Canon Pickett. In-state offensive lineman JJ Sparks from The Bolles School rounds out a group Mirabal is very excited about.
Chris Hampton – Oregon
The Ducks No. 3 ranked class was especially strong on the back end of the defense with Hampton integral in a lot of those commitments.
Securing signatures from Davon Benjamin (beating USC), Devin Jackson (holding off Nebraska) and Jett Washington (over Alabama) were three that Dan Lanning and Hampton had at the top of the board. Oregon also landed four-star Xavier Lherisse early in the cycle and picked up four-star Azel Banag in December. This is one of the top secondary classes in the land.
Hampton was promoted to defensive coordinator following the departure of Tosh Lupoi to Cal. Oregon already team-recruited on the trail so Hampton was active with a lot of these 2026 targets on the defensive side of the ball.
Brian Hartline – Ohio State
Death, taxes and Hartline being among the top recruiters in the country.
Now the head coach at USF, Hartline spearheaded the Buckeyes efforts to secure an elite wide receiver haul, and he helped Ryan Day keep it together at the end.
OSU beat Ole Miss for newly-minted Rivals300 five-star Jerquaden Guilford and then helped assist in holding off LSU at the end. Obviously there was the saga with five-star Chris Henry Jr. but in the end he honored his long-standing pledge to the Buckeyes over Oregon and USC with Texas and LSU throwing out last-minute offers.
In-state wideout Jaeden Ricketts took a late visit to West Virginia but stuck with Ohio State. He also flipped Brock Boyd from TCU.
Trooper Taylor – Texas A&M
The Aggies ace on the trail is Taylor who was in the middle of several big wins that helped bring in the No. 7 class in the land.
Texas A&M beat Texas and held off LSU for the No. 3 running back in the country. They also beat Florida among others at the buzzer to sign four-star Carsyn Baker.
Peach State four-star Aaron Gregory was Texas A&M’s top wide receiver target and Taylor led the charge and made sure he never flipped.
Taylor had his hands on in-state recruits in four-star linebacker DaQuives Beck, four-star tight end Kaeden Johnson and offensive linemen Zaden Krempin and Avery Morcho, who the staff absolutely loves.
Taylor has always been widely regarded as one of the top recruiters in the country and he lived up to the status in the 2026 cycle.
Todd Hartley – Georgia
Similar to Hartline, the Bulldogs tight ends coach typically lands who he covets most on the trail.
While USC was able to get it done with Mark Bowman, Hartley land the other three he coveted at the position headlined by in-state five-star and the No. 2 player in the country at the position in Kaiden Prothro.
Saline (Mich.) High standout and the nation’s No. 8 tight end Lincoln Keyes quickly became a guy Hartley and Georgia pushed for after having him in camp.
No program did a better job recruiting the No. 11 tight end in the class in Mansfield (Ohio) Lexington’s Brayden Fogle than Hartley and Georgia.
Three high upside, very talented tight ends are headed to Athens to maintain the standard of play we’ve grown accustomed to seeing between The Hedges.
Tony Alford – Michigan
Michigan landed perhaps the best player in the country regardless of position in five-star running back Savion Hiter, beating Tennessee, Ohio State and Georgia for the Mineral (Va.) Louisa County standout. Alford was on Hiter very early when he was on the Buckeyes staff and that carried over to the last two years in Ann Arbor. Relationship, comfort-level, style of play, academics mattered very much to Hiter and his family and Alford’s efforts made them feel at home with Michigan.
Hiter was one of two backs Alford signed with Jonathan Brown out of Ohio also putting pen to paper as part of the class.
New Michigan coach Kyle Whittingham retained Alford from the previous staff and the Maize and Blue will see the fruits of that in the 2027 cycle and beyond.
Al Washington – Notre Dame
Another the Irish lost to the NFL, Washington helped Notre Dame recruit its best defensive line haul in recent memory before taking a position with the Miami Dolphins.
The jewel of the Notre Dame class is five-star edge Rodney Dunham who picked ND over Tennessee and South Carolina. Fellow edge Ebenezer Ewetade went with the Irish over Georgia. One of Notre Dame’s top targets was defensive tackle Tiki Hola who also had a keen eye on USC. One of the last to commit in the cycle was four-star Elijah Golden who chose to play in South Bend over Alabama.
Frank Wilson – LSU
There are built-in advantages at LSU when it comes to recruiting elite in-state talent, but you still need someone to get these to the finish line. Wilson was very impactful for the Tigers in the 2026 class in helping secure the best defensive line haul in America.
Five-star Lamar Brown committed to LSU during the summer despite Texas A&M making it look very enticing in College Station. The Tigers held off Texas for Richard Anderson. The relationship with Wilson was one of the biggest reason Deuce Geralds chose LSU over Ole Miss and Georgia Tech.
Every player LSU signed from the state had a rapport with Wilson. Wilson’s now in Oxford and aims to help the Rebels keep their momentum going in 2027.
